Jealousy

“Just in case...... I'll ask, buuut......”

Crunch.

Stepping on the broken glass, Lairine asks me with a twitching smile.

“Emi-chan, saaay, those movements, saaay...... who'd you learn them from?”

“My master.”

“H, hmm......”

The conversation cuts off for a moment.

A cool breeze passes between us, swaying the undergrowth.

Lairine is trying to maintain her smile, but her complexion is strangely pale.

“Th...... that master, saaay...... what's their naaame......?”

“Don't know.”

“A, a nickname, or an alias......? Didn't they go by something like ‘Grim Reaper’......?”

“Don't know.”

“Why don't you know!?”

“Never asked.”

What is this woman suddenly bothered about now?

And what's with this “Grim Reaper” she keeps mentioning?

I tilt my head, completely bewildered.

“I see...... I seee! You don't even know their naaame! They may have been your master, but you weren't all that close to them, were youuu! They were someone who didn't matter, riiight?”

With a relieved expression, Lairine flashes her familiar, beaming smile.

“Huh? I'll kill you.”

At those words, killing intent leaks out of me in spite of myself.

My master is a precious person to me.

No matter how much I owe Lairine for food and a bed, I cannot forgive that remark.

Under my killing intent, Lairine's smile went stiff again.

And with that stiff smile still on her face...... she started to cry, big tears spilling down.

Huh?

What's with that reaction?

You're not the kind of person who'd be shaken by this level of killing intent, are you?

“H, hey, Emi-chan. That master, saaay...... where...... are they living...... nooow?”

“Why?”

“Th, thank them...... I have to, thank them, riiight? They're the one who taught Emi-chan, um, how to fight? Techniques? That person, riiight? I, I'm...... Emi-chan's...... mom, after aaall”

Next, laughing through her tears, Lairine came out with that.

Thanks.

She says she has to give her thanks, but a nasty aura is oozing from her entire body.

What?

What's with that feeling?

Well, for now......

“They're already dead, so they don't live anywhere.”

“............”

At my words, Lairine's smile vanished and her face went blank.

Still expressionless, she stares at me, big tears spilling down.

The silence continues.

Only the sarasara sound of the swaying grass reaches my ears.

I don't understand.

<Ah, I see. This is jealousy.>

......Suddenly breaking the silence, Omake-sama said mockingly.

Jealousy?

<This woman is galled. That there's someone besides herself, Emi, who has a deep connection with you.>

Huh?

What's that about?

Anyone who's alive ends up with a precious person or two, don't they?

<But that woman can't stand it. Her obsession with you goes beyond all bounds, and it's showing itself as a desire to have you all to herself. That's why she's jealous of your precious master. And only now, of all times! It has laid bare the fact that she was content with the title of Emi's mother and never once looked at Emi's inner self until now! Hahaha! Some mother! How utterly shameless and pathetic!!>

Whoa, you're suddenly really stirring her up!?

Omake-sama, you hate Lairine way too much!?

But wait.

Lairine said she was going to thank my master, right?

Why would she thank someone she's jealous of?

<She has no intention of thanking them. She was probably just planning to sneak over and kill them.>

Scary!?

<But your master has already passed away. Superhuman or not, even Lairine can't kill someone who's dead. With no target to take her frustration out on, she can't deal with the jealousy swirling in her chest, and so she's frozen up, that woman. How disgusting.>

If that analysis is correct, it certainly is disgusting, but Omake-sama, who can deduce Lairine's inner thoughts so easily, is also slightly disgusting.

Are you and her two of a kind, maybe?

<Absolutely not.>

Now then, the silence continued for a while.

Lairine remains frozen, motionless.

I'm bored.

The boredom drags on.

Just standing around felt silly, so I started moving through my forms again.

Right fist, left fist, right fist swung all the way through, then a roundhouse kick, roundhouse kick, roundhouse kick!

Phew...... I really am in top form!

My body moves so well it actually feels good!

<Emi...... you're quite the provocateur yourself, aren't you?>

Huh?

What are you talking about, Omake-sama?

Unlike you, I don't hate Lairine that much.

She gives me food.

I'm not provoking her at all.

<I see, so you're unaware of it......>

The silence went on so long that Omake-sama and I started chatting and ignoring Lairine, as usual...... just then.

“Ah! I knooow! I've thought of something greaaat!”

Lairine, who had been silent this whole time, let out a startled squeal and broke into a beaming smile.

“Heyyy, Emi-chan!”

Then Lairine ran over to me and squeezed both my hands tight.

She's back to her usual face.

She's not crying anymore.

“Um, what you learned from your master, y'knooow...... that technique?”

In a very gentle, cheerful voice, Lairine.

“Throw it away.”

Tossed out those unforgivable words.

“Aah?”

Before I knew it, I had roughly shaken off this woman's hands and was swinging at her with all my might.